Princess Royal to visit Burghley House in Stamford

The Princess Royal will be at Burghley House on Monday to kick off the Diamond Wood project celebrating the Queen’s diamond jubilee.

The Burghley House Preservation Trust and the Woodland Trust have drawn up plans for the new woodland on the site.

The wood will span 60 acres and see more than 23,650 trees planted across the estate.

The project is one of 60 around the country and will include woodland blocks and a continuation of the tree lined avenues.

Burghley house director Miranda Rock said: ”We are delighted that Burghley has been chosen to be one of the Diamond Jubilee woods.

“This 50 acre site will be a very important addition to our aims to preserve and regenerate the historic landscape of this great estate and also an important timber resource for the future.

“The wood will provide an enduring natural habitat for wildlife, with open areas providing foraging habitat for barn owls and skylarks and the high shrub element to encourage bullfinch foraging.

“In total we expect to be planting about 22,000 trees and it is a great honour that Princess Anne will be here to plant the first of these trees, a wild service tree that has been grown from seed on the estate.”

The plans will see public planting events, with the local community and schools getting involved in landscape conservation.

Project head at the Woodland Trust Georgina McLeod said the scheme would see millions of new trees planted across the country.

She said: “Sixty prominent new Diamond Woods with hundreds of smaller Jubilee Woods are being created across the UK.

“That’s the vision for the Woodland Trust’s ambitious project that aims to plant six million trees and involve millions of people in celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

“We very much hope that this inspires other landowners and communities to join us in paying a very special tribute to the Queen, while at the same time creating something living and lasting to hand on to future generations.

“Not only is this a chance to celebrate the Queen’s reign but it’s also a chance for people to improve their home towns, to facilitate building community spirit.”